Warren may extend freeze on used car lots

A moratorium on additional used car lots in Warren may be extended again.

Last October, city officials extended by 90 days the initial 6-month freeze on applications and approvals involving such businesses, in order to complete tougher regulations. That extension expired Jan. 16.

City administrators now have asked the City Council to formally stretch the moratorium another three months to put the finishing touches on newly planned restrictions.

Advertisement

“We are requesting an extension to April 16, 2013, but included the condition that the new ordinance must be submitted for review by the Planning Commission within 60 days. This is added to provide a good faith commitment to more forward,” Assistant City Attorney Mary Michaels said in a letter to the council.

The freeze approved in April 2012 was requested by Warren’s planning staff at the behest of Mayor James Fouts, as the city received approximately one inquiry a week from prospective new dealers.

Fouts claims that used car dealerships create blight and is troubled by the proliferation of such businesses in recent years. He previously has said the lots have a “honky-tonk, sleazy look” and believes Michigan’s third-largest city has become “oversaturated” despite previous ordinance changes approved five years ago.

Warren had six used car lots in 2008. That total jumped to 56 lots in part because of zoning variances granted by the city’s zoning appeals board. Thirty of the used car lots are located south of Stephens Road, on Warren’s south side.

The city’s zoning ordinance currently prohibits a used car lot from opening within 700 feet of another, but several in the city are clustered and within that radius.

During the moratorium, city planners studied the current locations where used-car buyers can look under hood and kick tires.

Some observers have frowned on automobile repair shops that have put prices on the windows of cars and trucks left behind by owners who failed to pay for completed repairs.

Last April, All American Auto Sales owner David Kaczor hoped officials would approve his plans to expand his sales lot on Groesbeck at 10 Mile Road, where he has operated for more than seven years, about one-half mile from the nearest homes. Kaczor agrees with the idea of tougher zoning rules for businesses like his, especially those who work out of trailers or brightly painted tiny structures.

Council President Cecil St. Pierre said one reason for the requested extension of the moratorium was a delay blamed on the flu suffered by a member of the planning staff.

St. Pierre said when the draft of the new regulations is done, the measure will be sent to the Planning Commission for a public hearing and a review. The revised law would then be steered back to the council for final approval.

But before then, the council president said he and his colleagues may hold a study session to review wording and possibly fine-tune it. That meeting might be held late this month or early February, he said.

“It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea…to invite some of the planning commissioners to be a part of it,” St. Pierre added.

The City Council is scheduled to act on the request for the second extension when members hold their regular meeting at 7 p.m. today at the Warren Community Center, 5460 Arden.